i am currently troubleshooting an overheating problem with my 7. first of im trying to test the sensor and guage to see if its actually overheating or if the electrical stuff is messed up. a new water temp sensor is $30 and i am very low on cash so i dont want to buy it if its not broken so i need some help testing it. what is the proper testing procedure? i measured the resistance with one lead of an ohm meter inside the sensor and one touching the end (i removed it) im not sure if this is the right way (correct me if im wrong). the haynes manual says when the engine is cold the resistance should be between 150 and 233 ohms. however i could get readings from .5, fluctuating around 10-15, and sometimes 20 megaohms by moving the inside lead around. am i doing something wrong or is my sensor bad? thanks in advance for any help.

 

Inside? it has a post on the outside and the hex part is gnd. Its the spark plug looking thingie (tech term) by the OP sender.

 

is this it? sorry that its out of focus my camera has trouble taking pictures that close but u should be able to tell if thats it or not. left side of engine between oil filler neck and oil filter. had one wire connected to it. water came out when i took it off. that has to be it. i touched one lead to the end that goes inside the engine and stuck the other lead in the top hole where the wire connector thing goes in.

 

is this it? sorry that its out of focus my camera has trouble taking pictures that close but u should be able to tell if thats it or not. left side of engine between oil filler neck and oil filter. had one wire connected to it. water came out when i took it off. that has to be it. i touched one lead to the end that goes inside the engine and stuck the other lead in the top hole where the wire connector thing goes in.

 

is this it? sorry that its out of focus my camera has trouble taking pictures that close but u should be able to tell if thats it or not. left side of engine between oil filler neck and oil filter. had one wire connected to it. water came out when i took it off. that has to be it. i touched one lead to the end that goes inside the engine and stuck the other lead in the top hole where the wire connector thing goes in.

 

jeeze man quit hitting the button so much!!
take a pic of the place where it goes, that would help more

 

Thats it. Maybe clean the area your putting the leads on to get a better reading. What happende to the tit that sitcks out at the end??????

 

first of all please forgive my slow-*** computer it does that all the time. it gets mad cause its not as good and the new computers and starts going crazy. yea hold on ill go take another pic of where it goes. im like 99% positive thats it tho, but just to make sure....(i took the wire off it in case your wondering)....

 

carl,
you mean the little black thingy that sticks out? it came off with the wire. is that bad? am i putting the leads in the right places to test it?

 

Oh ****! You broke off the connector! The black thing is supposed to come off and leave a bullet connector on the end of the sensor. Thats why I said it looks kinda like a spark plug. Yes thats bad. sorry

 

****....do i need to buy a new sensor? will it come with the connector?

 

Yes you need a new sender sorry Nope, look inside the black connector end. Use needlenose pliers to pull out the old sender end. again sorry but its toast.

 

 

or if you wanna get cheap you can always go to the yard and find one that's not bad one that was still submerge in good coolant/water... and five finger discount the damn small thing...

 

ok guys, thanks for all the help, looks like ill be makin a trip to autozone. hopefully the car wasnt really overheating and the sensor was just bad....but with my luck i dunno............